"Detective" #27 to Bring $400,000 in Heritage Auction

"Detective Comics" #27 is on its way to becoming the second most valable comic book ever

With two weeks to go until the Aug. 5 Signature® Comics & Comic Art Auction at Heritage Auctions, the CGC-graded 7.5 VF “Aloha Copy” of Detective #27 - Batman’s famous first appearance - is already on its way to becoming at least the second most valuable comic book ever offered at public auction, and easily the lead lot in one of Heritage’s deepest comic and comic art auctions to date.

“If the hammer were to fall on the ‘Aloha Copy’ right now,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President of Heritage Auctions, “the total price would be $487,000, almost $100,000 against the low end of our pre-auction estimate, and there are still two weeks of bidding left. We expect this comic to go substantially higher.”

The anonymous consignor of the comic was a college student in Hawaii in 1974 when he paid $1,200 for the book. Flash forward more than 35 years and he now stands to recoup, potentially, a return upwards of 30,000% on his initial investment.

“The consignor saw the massive coverage of the sale of several high profile early comics this year, including an 8.0 copy of the same comic book that we sold for $1,075,000 in February,” said Lon Allen, Managing Director of Comics and Comic Art at Heritage Auctions, “and decided the time had come to see what his copy was worth, and if it would pay for his son’s college education. I think it’s safe to say right now that it will.”

“It’s a point of special contention that we are offering all of these amazing original paintings without reserve,” said Jaster. “It’s a good day when even one original Barks painting appears on the market, let alone 10 of the very best, let alone all of them being offered without any reserve. The top collectors are going to love this.”

“Frazetta redefined the field of fantasy art with his electrifying paperback covers of the 1960s,” said Jaster. “He set a new standard of excellence for all others to aspire to, and this is one of the best examples of his tremendous talent. Since the day they first saw print, his visceral visions of heroic conflict, terrifying creatures of the night and tantalizing women have inspired and entertained scores of creative talents and readers alike.”

“The ‘white pages’ here are the real deal,” said Jaster. “No surprise, really, since this copy has been stored less than 150 miles from the Arctic Circle, in Fairbanks, Alaska, since at least 1974. We've never offered an unrestored copy certified with white pages before this one, despite handling more than 50 copies over the years, and note that just 16 unrestored copies have been certified with a higher grade.”

This issue continues to be one of the most desirable comic books in the hobby. It's got the first appearances of two absolute "household name" characters, the Joker and Catwoman. We've heard the case made that Batman #1 should be ranked ahead of Superman #1 in value and behind only Action #1 and Detective #27.

Bernie Wrightson House of Mystery #1 Paperback Cover Original Art (Warner Books, 1972): Bernie Wrightson, a key founding member of the legendary art group, the Studio, was in peak form for this Bronze Age cover illustration. This "terror-iffic" scene was created for the 1973 Warner Books collection of eight spine-tingling Jack Oleck prose stories. For a Wrightson fan-addict, it just doesn't get better than this. Estimate: $20,000+.